Month: December 2012

Food bloggers come in all shapes and sizes (and some would say, vast, vast, quantities). But underneath them all is an obsession with food, and I’ve just discovered it’s unnatural. Recently I ran a trivia night at my place with nine of my nearest and dearest. It came about because it’s something we do as…

Complex little number from Waipara, South Island NZ. Close enough to Malborough to still be famous for Sauvignon, but fortunately far enough away to avoid that tragic cats’ pee nose so many cheap NZ Sauvvies have. Still a little herby, but in a gentle, farm-straw kind of way rather than a freshly mowed lawn. This…

Omani Lobster is presently a little overfished, but just once in a while, it’s a super way to turn things up for a celebration. This is a claw-less variety, and so is easy to prepare and eat. Simply use the tails, and if you want to keep waste to a minimum, use the legs to…

This is such a vibrant salad. Considering it is so hot here, even over Christmas, not everyone wants a bowl of hot roasted vegetables. It’s easy to prepare before-hand and features plenty of local and seasonal ingredients. It’s wonderful with turkey, but also makes a great accompaniment to grilled seafood. Ingredients: 500g pumpkin, peeled and…

I hate this time of year. I’m perpetually hung over. At the snippets of time when I’m not, I’m drinking someone’s hideous party wine and eating god-awful canapes. My diet consists entirely of smoked salmon blinis, cold garlic prawns, hummus and mince pies. Ugh. Who on earth invented mince pies? And does anyone at all…

I’ve been inspired by the region – hard not to be really. Last year, we made a gingerbread house, and it turned out quite nicely. But the snow on the roof and the Hansel and Gretel theme doesn’t really gel in this part of the world. So, here is a Middle-Eastern-Appropriate gingerbread, both in flavour…

Ok – this is not the easiest part of a Christmas Dinner, and so breaks my usual slap-dash rules of only 3-4 steps. Sorry about that – nothing to do. It is however not a hard recipe as far as roast turkeys go – just a simple roast, no brining or anything like that. Let’s…

This is a very inexpensive blend that packs a punch. The grape varieties are Trebbiano, Garganega, Malvasia and Cortese. Cortese is the famed Gavi variety, and Garganega is the same of Soave. Here, they come together with a couple of flavoursome (but often low acid and a little light on complexity) varieties to form a…

Australia is famous for its Barossa Shiraz, and it’s famous for Penfolds. After all, our most well respected wine, Grange, is a Barossa Shiraz made by Penfolds. When most people go to the shelf and pick up a Shiraz (Syrah to the rest of the world) from this region, they are expecting something intense, full…